A MIDLAND drug addict who fractured a 79-year-old woman’s hip when he snatched her bag as she made her way to hospital to visit her husband has been jailed for four years.

“Your actions caused substantial damage to the remaining years of her life,” Judge John Warner told 29-year-old Amardeep Singh.

He said the violent street robbery had a “dreadful” effect on the pensioner and had shattered her ability to care for her husband. In a statement, Mrs Doreen Armstrong told police that the fracture meant she now needed to be cared for herself, which made it impossible for her to look after her husband. After suffering a stroke, he now had to be put into a home. And, while in hospital being treated for the fracture, her home had been burgled.

Singh of Beeches Road, West Bromwich admitted robbery and was told by the Judge that it was clear he had targeted a “very vulnerable” victim. “You pulled her with such force she fell and suffered a broken hip,” he added. “I accept you did not intend to cause her such an injury but the obvious risk was clear.”

Singh was quickly arrested by police officers after his description had been provided by witnesses.

Mr Jas Mann, defending, said Singh had been homeless since he was 16 and had started using heroin. He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Singh had been pressured by another man to carry out the robbery.